100 beers of 2010: 3/100 - Great Lakes Conway's Irish Ale

I'm fortunate enough to have a friend who works on the bottling line at Great Lakes Brewing Company. Every time I go home to Cleveland, I try to see him for good hanging out with the side benefit of a free case or so of underfilled bottles to take home. The major issue with the underfills is that they are unlabeled, so unless they were put into the right carrier you don't know what you are opening until you pour it in your glass. They are running Conway's Irish Ale right now, and when I poured this into my glass, I seriously had no idea what it was - there was so little aroma and flavor!

Beer Style: Irish Red Ale
ABV/IBU: 6.5%/25
Serving Style: Poured from the bottle into a Sam Adams Sensory glass.

Appearance: As is typical for Great Lakes, it's an attractive brew. It's clearly filtered and is a lovely orange-gold color, with good levels of carbonation. There wasn't much head on my pour, and there was no lacing evident as I drank. 4/5

Smell: Very mild, extremely so. I have absolutely NO idea how anyone reviewing this beer would give this high marks on smell. This was a very fresh bottle and it still had almost no aroma. There was some slight malt sweetness with no hop bitterness. I had to stick my nose into the glass and swirl many times just to get anything at all. 2/5

Taste: It's pretty boring, really... some mild maltiness with a bit of buttery biscuit/cracker going on, with a very mild honey sweetness of caramel malts. The bitterness is very "european" and refined, with very mild classic hop notes - nothing great to me. The finish is surprisingly long, with bitterness that lingers in a mildly distasteful manner. There is a mild lemon note on the palate, but it's decidedly NOT an American ale citrus flavor. It's an integrated beer that just isn't very flavorful, really. 2.5/5

Mouthfeel: Pretty standard ale thickness. Great Lakes usually nails mouthfeel pretty well. The flavor is pretty thin but the beer itself is fairly substantial. It's a bit "zippy" on the tongue, but it's ok. 4/5

Drinkability: It's not very tasty or intense, it's almost too mild to care about - it certainly won't wear you out but it's not offensive. I'd want something more flavorful to session, but if you dig extremely mild european ales you might want this. I'm not very impressed with this, really, it's a rare miss by my hometown brewery. I'll admit that this is simply not a style of beer I think I would like, no matter how well it fit the style. My ratings are unfair for this beer in terms of being an Irish Red Ale, and in the future I'll attempt to be rating more on style instead of my personal opinion. 3/5

Overall grade: C

Review: GLBC Commodore Perry

Poured from the bottle into a Sam Adams sensory glass. This bottle was only a week or two off the bottling line, as I got it from a buddy who gets me a lot of underfills...

Appearance: The color isn't anything special, really, but it's pours quite clear with a nice head and good retention. A good level of carbonation is exhibited with a steady stream of bubbles rising from the nucleation points in the glass.

Smell: A very nice and strong aroma, indeed. A nice malt mixes with slightly citrus, lemon aromas, and some fresh grassiness.

Taste: A creamy mild sweetness is complemented with a bit of bready malt, and finished up with clean, sweet bitter hop flavors. Everything is well integrated - the sweetness never overpowers the mild bitterness, and the finish is clean on the palate - but still reminding you it's an IPA. I'd say for non-imperial IPA it's one of my favorites.

Mouthfeel: The mouthfeel is fantastic for a single IPA. Thick and rich, but never syrupy, and with a perfect level of carbonation. The mouthfeel perfectly complements the flavors of the beer and enhances the entire package. For the style, I think it's worth a 5.

Drinkability: It's extremely drinkable, due to the great taste and wonderful mouthfeel. I'm nearly done with my glass as I finish this review, actually... and really wouldn't mind another!

One of the best of the GLBC brews, in my opinion. An A- single IPA for sure.